Extra-ordinary

I couldn't be more proud of my brother-in-law Mac Premo and our friend Oliver Jeffers: They have directed a beautiful lyric video for U2's "Ordinary Love". It's a first-rate piece of work and demonstrates in four minutes what great artists both these guys are. Oh, and the song isn't half bad, either.

Song In My Head

U2's "One Tree Hill", their wrenching-yet-uplifiting tribute to roadie and good friend Greg Carroll, who was killed in a motorbike accident in Dublin. Carroll was a native New Zealander -- a Maori -- and his death inspired The Joshua Tree.

I probably haven't thought about this song much since high school, but it was the default entry on Wikipedia the other day (go figure). And reading about the composition and production of this song made me realize 1) how good a song it is and 2) how good a band U2 are. From the opening guitar riff -- inspired by West African highlife -- to the electroacoustic Raad strings that were designed and commissioned for the song by a group of Canadians under the auspices of Daniel Lanois, to the subtle fuzz guitar solo the Edge plays at the end, to Bono's vocals, which he did in one take because he was too emotionally distraught to sing them a second time.

It's simply an exemplary track on an outstanding album. And it still gives me chills 26 years later. I've said it before: U2 are the band that has stayed relevant longer than any other rock history. And here they are at their creative zenith.

Song In My Head

"Out of Control" by U2. It came on Sirius this morning and it instantly flashed me back to high school, when I got really into early U2. Here's a 1981 live performance from a concert in Belfast -- where they were the opening act and actually had to introduce themselves. And they sound phenomenal. By the way, has there ever been a band who has stayed relevant for as long a time as U2 has? They were still doing great stuff well into the 2000s -- I noticed that VH1 ranked "Beautiful Day" as one of the top songs of the decade. What a run from the boys from Dublin.

Song In My Head

"Red Hill Mining Town" by U2.

For some reason, I started humming this song at the grocery store late last night. It always reminds me of high school -- the whole Joshua Tree album does -- and coming to realize I wasn't a kid anymore and that the wide world had risks and rewards I hadn't considered up to that point. Enough about that. Musically, I don't know if I should love or hate The Edge's obvious fret squeals -- I can't think of another song where they're as over-pronounced as they are here -- but the more I think about them, the less I like them. The Edge famously once said that he always tried to come up with new guitar sounds and never use the same sound twice. I'll let you judge whether it works in this case.

REM calls it quits

After reading the little article about the demise of REM, I was moved to write a response.  REM seems to be a bad that will forever be overlooked for their importance of creatign alternative radio, and allowing so many other bands to find a little spotlight in the mainstream, get noticed, and hit pay dirt. 

No, they weren’t as cutting edge as New Order, Echo & the Bunnymen, the Smiths or the Cure, but they were the band that made me open that cellar door to check out what is on the other side of what I knew of as “classic rock & roll.”  The had a “sound.”  Not quite like anything else you would hear on staple FM channels, but accessible, yet quirky.  For me, it comes from Peter Buck's 12 string sound.  Songs like "South Central Rain," “Don’t go Back to Rockville,” “Superman,” and “Fall on Me” carry that sound that attracted me to them.

The group, sans Stipe most of the time, showed how tight they as a band with the highly underrated Hindu Love Gods project they tackled with Warren Zevon.; talking on blues favorites, and Prince. 

MTV & music videos helped the general public become aware of who this little Southern band was.  “The One I “Love” and “The End of The World” were somewhat in rotation on MTV, and gave them that initial radio play.  Then came “Losing My Religion,” and the whole thing blew up.

In this time, of immense popularity, REM was able to show many sides as a multi-dimensional band.  A silly song like “Stand” or “Shiny Happy People” evokes the B-52’s (and yes, I know Kate Pearson was on the latter.)  “Drive” has an eerie Pink Floyd feel, and “Orange Crush” lends a heavy rock sound. 

Much like Dylan when he “plugged in” I felt REM did the same (I know a stretch of a comparison) when they came out with the Monster album, and “What’s the Frequency Kenneth?”  Many fans turned away.  The band lost the sound that made them special - that rhythm section, and went a bit glam with “"Bang and Blame", & "Crush with Eyeliner."  I felt this was also a visible change in the band with Michael Stipe shaving his head, and Mike Mills wearing rhinestone suits. 

With the loss of drummer and contributing songwriter Bill Berry in the later 90’s, the band seemed somewhat lost and faded a bit into obscurity.  They would still put out a decent song once in a while, like “Leaving New York” but their star had obviously faded. 

Amazingly, they and U2 were the two bands that went head to toe as the leaders of the alternative movement to mainstream, yet, only one will be remembered as legendary. 

Song In My Head

"Out of Control" by U2. This clip is from a 1981 live show in Belfast... which begs the question: Has there been a band that's stayed relevant -- and current -- longer than U2? I mean, they're still going after more than 30 years, and they're still pretty darn good. And they've kept the same lineup the whole time. Name another band with the longevity and staying power of U2. I don't think you can.